Primacy

Tens of thousands of monkeys and apes suffer in animal testing labs. If just one of them could speak, what might it say and whose interests would it threaten?

Researcher Liane Vinson thinks she can handle her promotion to the primate lab at Pentalon, the world's biggest and most secretive animal testing facility. Going along to get along, she'll ignore both the vitriol of animal rights protestors outside the front gates and the cold calculus that her bosses use to distance themselves from their subjects behind closed doors.

But when Liane discovers that one of her favorite apes, a young bonobo called Bea, has shockingly developed the ability to speak, all her doubts awaken--doubts about right and wrong, about following the rules, and about sacrificing individuals to the supposedly greater good.

She'd spare this unique being the knife if she could, but only Axel Flickinger, Pentalon's cold-hearted CEO, holds the power of life and death within the closely monitored laboratory. If there's any chance of rescuing Bea, Liane will need to involve her neighbor, Mickey Ferrone, a rough-hewn veterinarian with his own grievances.

Soon, at risk of life and limb, Liana and Mickey must challenge forces almost beyond their comprehension: a malevolent corporation, a venal federal government, an animal rights movement that's lost its way--and all of our assumptions about man's primacy in nature.